What do we do with the 360?

Nefarious

Nefarious

Nefarious

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I currently have an x-box original clunking away running as a Xebian media centre and has a 500GB Hard drive and numerous faults that I can't be bothered to fix.

The 360 can be installed with linux and you can run your own code BUT the 360 can already be a media streamer without interference so...

I have tried looking into 360 modding but there free60 website seems to be fairly dead - hypothetically (as I am in no way asking for advice on how to break M$ warranties nor do I wish to incurr the wrath of the admin) what is possible as far as running Linux or similar on a 360 and is it worth it?

e.g. Is it possible to install a larger hard drive, have they gotten remote control functionality
 
Probably not worth it, PS3 is much more suited to installing Linux and installing bigger HDD's etc.

In fact your original modded Xbox would still do a better job than a 360 with Linux installed.
 
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Nefarious said:
Hmmm, but will the PS3 come with an outrageously large hard drive or for that function am I better off modding?
Click to expand...
The PS3 takes a standard 2.5" hard disk. You can change it without really needing to do any modding, you're meant to be able to change it.
 
It's a tough one as the price point of a 360 premium makes it appealing with the aim of making it a cheap linux box, however the difficulty of doing so makes the PS3 the better option. Add to that that the PS3 will be more expensive (that's without considering the cost of upgrading the hdd) then you're pretty much back to square one again.

Echoing what's already been said about the original xbox, it'll do a far better job as a stand alone media centre than the 360 will. Better to keep that ticking over until the full potential of the 360 can be used (in terms of homebrew).

An original xbox can be had very cheaply on the high street as well as ebay. You could get one and transfer whatever mods you have over to it. Last time I looked I could pick one up from the high street for £25 with controllers; the benefit of doing it that way being that you can check serials numbers so that you know what version you're getting.
 
At current prices I'd go for a 360 with a PC streaming the media (in fact I do this right now) but you could use a large external HDD attached via USB to the 360 or get a PS3 with a large laptop HDD upgrade for a sleeker but more expensive option.

It's worth noting that you have to be connected to XBL to play Divx/Avi media iirc.
 
If I run Linux on a PS3, can I get it to natively decode .avi without connecting to an online resource AND stream media over the LAN/WAN from a PC using samba or similar?

If I can then..... From what people have said, I think I'm going to go with getting a PS3 and the largest 2.5" I can find (so far it's a Hitachi 500GB), running Linux and then dealing with everything from there. Anyone have any caveats, suggestions or derisions?
 
Linux on a PS3 is severely crippled as access to the GPU is disabled and there is only 256MB of RAM, HD media barely ran when I tried it and I regularly experienced dropped frames. You're better off just running the videos through the default OS.

You can natively decode .avi via the default OS but I can't confirm if you an do it offline, I only know you can't with the 360.
 
Hmm, seems there's little point in even bothering with a Linux install from what you're saying.

Having looked at a few websites, the PS3's more recent bits of firmware seem to handle most files and even network streaming.

Looks like I'll just get a PS3, whack a HDD in it and forget all this Linux nonsense until a point emerges ;)
 
Nefarious said:
You can pick up any old 3.5" hard drive and shove it in the PS3 and it's fine with it!?

Is it possible to get a remote control for the PS3 a la x-box or is it joypads all the way?
Click to expand...

Yep, any SATA 2.5" hard-drive (same as laptops use). There's also a remote available, it uses Bluetooth and looks very nice. Tempted to pick one up myself.
 
Do you actually want it for games at all? If not, I would have thought a cheap PC would do the job better.
 
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